How Gillard got the Oz culture war underway

During the election campaign, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the left media complained that Peter Dutton had imported a culture war conflict from the US.

But victory in the culture wars has always been a Labor aim. Back in 2003, Julia Gillard in a Sydney Institute speech titled Winning the Culture War made Labor's mission clear.

Gillard argued the ALP must "muscle up for the hard task of winning the culture war and creating a new vision for this nation".

Also ignored is that the ALP's Australian Education Union allies called on the left side of politics to engage in culture wars by taking control of education.

In a 2007 speech, then-leader of the AEU Pat Byrne argued the "Howard government has got to go!" because
the PM was guilty of reframing "Australian culture into something of his own choosing".

Byrne's examples included asking immigrants to embrace Australian values and the importance of assimilation.

As well as ignoring it was the left that prioritised the culture wars in our nation's policy debates, those arguing the Liberal Party must cease fighting the battle of ideas have no idea what the expression refers to and how central it is to a nation's prosperity and wellbeing.

While the Albanese government weaponised the term by defining it as a US import, "culture wars" actually refers to what British academic Roger Scruton noted was a defining characteristic of the 20th century.

Scruton argued that Western nations faced two opposing ideas about societal structures. On one side is political correctness and on the other side is liberalism.

Underpinning political correctness (now rebadged as being woke) is a cultural-left ideology intent on radically transforming Western societies.

One example involves indoctrinating children with the belief gender and sexuality are fluid and limitless and not biologically determined. A second example is the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion movement where, instead of merit and ability, targeted groups characterised as victims receive positive discrimination involving quotas and preferential treatment.

The Indigenous Voice to Parliament championed by the More than two decades before Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese decried the invasion of US-style culture wars, his prime ministerial predecessor Julia Gillard urged Labor to follow a culture war path.

Albanese government, that if successful would have permanently created two classes of citizens based on race, is a third example of the culture wars.

Liberalism, on the other hand, champions the belief as all are equal all deserve the right to what the American Declaration of Independence describes as life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness.

Central to liberalism is freedom of expression, private enterprise and minimal government control.

When it comes to education, liberalism favours equality of opportunity instead of equality of outcomes and sees the purpose of education as introducing succeeding generations of young people to Western culture's best validated knowledge and artistic achievements.

While the cultural left is intent on enforcing mind control and group It was the left side of politics that prioritised the culture wars in our nation's policy debates think, teaching students a black armband view of history and denigrating Western civilisation and Christianity, a liberal approach wants students to be culturally literate and
independently minded.

The origins of the culture wars can be traced back to the late 1920s when Marxist academics at Germany's Frankfurt School realised there would never be a worker's revolt in Western nations as there had been in
communist Russia.

Instead of trying to use violence to overthrow capitalism, the Marxist academics argued the best way to radically transform society was to take over institutions including
schools, universities and the media.

Universities, instead of promoting a liberal education based on a search for wisdom, beauty and truth, have long been dominated by critical theory, gender studies, postcolonial theory and identity politics.

While cost of living will always be a main issue, also crucial is how a nation defines itself and its way of life.

Gillard called on the ALP to fight the culture war.

The Liberal/National parties must meet that challenge.